Detachable marker tab and retainer therefor

ABSTRACT

A detachable marker tab for temporarily calling attention to a particular portion of a page of a book or other document, the tab being in the form of an elongated strip shaped at one end in the form of a pointer and coated over a portion of one surface including the pointed end with a pressure sensitive adhesive which is sufficiently soft to permit ready removal of the tab from ordinary fibrous paper without injury to the paper or any indicia thereon. The tabs may be detachably mounted in a folder resembling a match book cover.

United States Patent 1 13,ss3,35s

[72] Inventor Leonard J. Hanson,,lr. 1,013,659 1/1912 Johnson 283/3711820 Live Oak Drive, Minnetonka, Minn. 1,895,233 1/1933 Rossen 206/2955343 2,314,578 3/1943 Erb 283/42 [21] Appll No. 805,671 2,551,7005/1951 Pinco 206/29X [22] Filed Mar. 10,1969 3,191,767 6/1965 Glowiak40/23X [45] Patented June 8, 1971 3,444,635 5/1969 Setzler 40/360FOREIGN PATENTS {54] DETACHABLE MARKER TAB AND RETAINER 1,226,935 2/1960France 40/360 THEREFOR 5 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S.Cl 116/119, 40/23,116/114, 206/29, 206/56, 281/5, 283/42 [51]Int. Cl 842d 9/00 [50] FieldofSearch 116/119,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,213,666 9/1940 Burke 281/53,225,916 12/1965 Fie1d et a1, 206/56 3,361,252 l/1968 Wise 206/56715,799 12/1902 Hendrickson 40/23UX Primary ExaminerLouis J. CapoziAttorneys-Frederick E. Lange, John J. Held, Jr. and Eugene L. JohnsonABSTRACT: A detachable marker tab for temporarily calling attention to aparticular portion of a page of a book or other document, the tab beingin the form of an elongated strip shaped at one end in the form of apointer and coated over a portion of one surface including the pointedend with a pressure sensitive adhesive which is sufficiently soft topermit ready removal of the tab from ordinary fibrous paper withoutinjury to the paper or any indicia thereon. The tabs may be detachablymounted in a folder resembling a match book cover.

PATENTEU JUN 8 4911 J 7 TOP/V5 V DETACHABLE MARKER TAB AND RETAINERTHEREFOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is often necessary totemporarily mark particular portions of a page or book or otherdocument. A lecturer may wish to not only designate a particular pagebut also a particular por tion of a page to which he wishes to refer inthe course of his talk or lecture. It is often necessary in connectionwith legal documents to be signed by an executive of a company toindicate the various portions where the document is to be signed. Insome cases, there may be several copies of the document and severalplaces in each copy where a signature is necessary. The usual practiceis to employ paper clips for indicating the significant portions of thevarious pages. Paper clips, unfortunately, are readily displaced.Furthermore, they tend to deform the page and may tear the page whenbeing carelessly removed. Various metal clips have been devised forattachment to the side of a page. Again, these suffer some of thedisadvantages pointed out above for paper clips.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is concerned with areadily detachable marker tab in the form of an elongated strip having aportion of one surface coated with a pressure sensitive adhesive, therebeing an end portion free of adhesive for readily gripping the tab toremove it either from a retainer for it or from a page to which it hasbeen applied. The pressure sensitive adhesive is soft enough so that thetab can be readily removed from an ordinary fibrous page without damageto the page-or any indicia thereon. Preferably, one end of the tab hasconverging sidewalls so as to form a pointer which can be directed tothe particular portion of the page in question. The upper surface of thecoated and uncoated portions of the tab may be colored in contrastingcolors. The uncoated portion may be left in its natural color state tofacilitate the addition of any identifying data thereto. Thus, the outeruncoated portions may be white while the remaining portions may becolored in any of a variety of colors. Certain of the tabs may becolored differently from others to designate the purpose of thereference to the particular page.

The tabs may be retained in any desired way prior to usage. One type ofretainer which forms part of my invention is a container simulating amatch book cover in which are fastened various sheets to which the tabsare secured. The uncoated portions of the tab project beyond the sheetso as to be readily accessible. These sheets may be of varying lengthsso as to present the tabs in a staggered manner to further facilitateaccess thereto.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent from a consideration ofthe accompanying specification, claims and drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Referring to FIG. 1, this is aperspective view of the marker tab of my invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational side view of my marker tab;

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the tab;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view, with color coding applied to indicate that aportion of the tab may be colored;

FIG. 5 is an assemblage of the tabs on a backing sheet;

FIG. 6 shows a legal document with these tabs being applied to variousplaces to designate places at which the document is to be signed;

FIG. 7 is a retainer for the marker tab simulating a match book cover,the front flap of the retainer being opened to show the marker tabs inposition; and

FIG. 8 is a side view of the retainer of FIG. 7 on a much larger scalethan in'FlG. 7 and with the front cover in closed position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, one of theimproved marker tabs of my present invention is shown in perspective inFIG. I and indicated by the reference numeral 10. This tab comprises astrip I l which may be of paper, card stock paper, sheet plastic orsimilar material. A layer of pressure sensitive adhesive extends over aportion of the underside of strip 11, this layer being indicated by thereference numeral 12. The strip 11 is preferably formed with its sidesconverging at one end to form a pointer 13. The opposite end may haveits corners beveled as at 14 to avoid the presence of sharp corners. Itwill be noted that the pressure sensitive adhesive 12 covers somewhatover half of the underside of strip 11 including the end forming thepointer 13. Thus, looking at FIGS. 1 through 4, there is a portion atthe right-hand end of strip 11 which is uncoated and which may bereadily grasped when it is desired to remove the tab from a sheet ofprinted material, as will be explained later. The pressure sensitiveadhesive 12 should preferably be of a relatively soft type which willretain the tab 10 in position on a printed page but which permits itsready removal, when the right-hand end of the tab is pulled, withoutdamage to either the surface of the page or the printed materialthereon. Such pressure sensitive adhesives are well known in the art,being made with a wide degree of softness or adhesiveness.

It is desirable to indicate on the top surface of strip 11 which is theuncoated end and which is the coated end. This, of course, is indicatedto a certain extent by the pointed end 13. I find it helpful, however,to further indicate which is the un coated end by applying someindication on the top surface. In FIG. I, I have indicated a line 15which is employed to indicate the left-hand boundary of the portionwhich may be grasped. This line is slightly to the right of theright-hand end of the adhesive coating 12 to permit some flexing betweenthe portion of the uncoated end that is being grasped and the beginningof the pressure sensitive adhesive layer. If the tab were grasped tooclose to the area over which the pressure sensitive adhesive 12 extends,it would be more difficult to grasp the uncoated end and peel it awayfrom the surface to which the tab 10 has been attached.

While I have shown merely a boundary line 15 in FIG. 1, this line mayindicate the boundary between areas of two different colors. Thus, inFIG. 4, l have shown the left-hand portion of the tab as being lined forthe color red. The right-hand portion to be grasped may be in thenatural color of the stock of which the strip 11 is formed or it may becolored in a contrasting color. An advantage of leaving the right-handportion uncolored is that it is possible to apply any suitable indiciaby pen or pencil to identify the purpose of the tab. Thus, I have shownthe letter A written in a script fashion on the righthand end of the tabin FIG. 4.

As is conventional with members coated with pressure sensitive adhesive,it is desirable to mount these on a sheet of backing paper until theyare ready for use. This prevents the adhesive from adhering to othersurfaces and preserves its adhesive properties intact until the devicecoated with the pressure sensitive adhesive is ready to use. In FIG. 5,l have shown a plurality of the tabs 10 mounted on a sheet 17 ofsuitable backing paper. This backing sheet 17 may be formed of anymaterial having a smooth, relatively glossy" surface. In lieu of fibrouspaper, a thin sheet of plastic material may be employed. It will bereadily apparent that the tabs 10 are retained on the sheet 17 untilsuch time as it is desirable to use one. The tab 10 may then be readilydetached by grasping the upper uncoated portion indicated by the linesl5 and removing it from the backing sheet 17.

In FIG. 6, l have shown an application of my tab. The numeral 18 is usedto indicate a document having a number of pages having various indiciathereon. The document may, for example, be a legal document having anumber of places at which the document is to be signed. The document isshown as being open to a page designated by the numeral 19 on which asignature line 20 appears. It will be noted that the tab 10 is affixedto the page so that the pointer 13 is directed to the signature line 20and so that the outer uncoated portion projects beyond the edge of thepaper. In the drawing, I have shown two other tabs affixed to variousother pages. It will be readily apparent that the tabs 10 not onlyindicate the pages to which attention is to be directed but alsoindicate the portion of the page in question. Unlike paper clips, thetabs when removed leave no crease or deformation of the paper.Furthermore, they remain in position much more securely than paperclips. In addition, as indicated in connection with FIG. 4, the tabs mayhave indicia applied thereto. For example, the right-hand uncoatedportion of the tab may have a legend Sign Here." The improved tabsfurthermore have another advantage over such devices as paper clips.These tabs can be extremely thin, even thinner than the paper of thedocument in which they are to be placed. The result of it is that alarge number of these tabs can be employed at various points in adocument without appreciably adding to the thickness at any area.

Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, I have shown an arrangement for retainingthese tabs prior to use. In this figure, the various tabs are mountedwithin a cover 22 in the form of a folder simulating a match book cover.The cover 22 comprises a strip of cardboard or similar material which isfolded to provide a back portion 23, a short front flap portion 24, anda front closure flap 25, as is conventional with match book covers. Twosheets of flexible material 26 and 27 have their lower ends disposedbetween the back portion 23 and the front flap portion 24, and suitablefastening means, such as a staple 28 is employed to hold together thefront flap portion 24, the back portion 23 and the lower ends of thesheets 26 and 27. The sheets 26 and 27 are employed as backing sheets onwhich a number of the tabs 10 are mounted. These backing sheets, likesheet 17 of FIG. 5, should be made of a material having a smooth, glossysurface so that the tabs 10 can be readily detached from the sheets 26and 27. As is clearly apparent from FIGS. 7 and 8, the rear backingsheet 26 is longer than the front backing sheet 27 so that it projectsthereabove. The sheet 26 is preferably of a length greater than sheet 27by an amount approximating the length of the uncoated portion of a tab10. In this way, the tabs 10, when mounted on the sheets 26 and 27 asshown in FIG. 7, are staggered so as to facilitate the access to theuncoated portion of the tabs and their removal from the backing sheets.

In FIG. 7, I have shown various groups of tabs with their lower portionscolored in different manners. Thus, referring to the lowermost row oftabs 10 secured to the backing sheet 27, the left-hand tabs have theirlower portions colored green, the next three tabs including one whichhas been removed have their lower portions colored in red, the next twoin purple, and the right-hand two in gold. The upper row of tabs aresimilarly colored. By employing different colors, different tabs may beused to designate different portions of a document or to identify thepurpose for which the tab is applied. Thus, a tab of one color may beemployed to indicate a signature line while a tab of another color maybe employed merely to indicate that the signer should pay particularattention to a certain point indicated by that tab. In addition to thevarious colors ofthc tabs serving to identify the purpose of the tab,the coloring of portions of the tabs also serves to enhance theattractiveness of the package, the tabs more closely simulating matchesin appearance. The upper uncoated portions, whether they be left inwhite or a natural color of the base material or whether they arecolored in contrasting color, simulate match heads.

CONCLUSION It will be seen that I have provided an extremely simplemarker tab which can be readily applied to and removed from printedmaterial without injury thereto. While I have referred to the use of thetabs for marking papers to be signed, it is to be understood that thesetabs can be used anywhere where a bookmark is to be employed. Forexample, they may be used to call attention to a particular picture or aparticular textual portion on a printed page.

It will also be seen that I have provided a novel assembly of suchmarker tabs designed to be carried in the pocket and be readilyavailable for use anywhere.

I claim:

I. An assembly of marker tabs comprising a folder simulating aconventional match book cover, said folder having a strip of cardboardfolded to provide a back portion, a short front flap portion, and afront closure flap member, a plurality of sheets of flexible material ofa width approximating the width of the folder and with the lower endsthereof disposed between the back portion and the short front flapportion of said folder, means for securing said back portion, said shortfront flap portion, and the lower ends of said sheets together, and aplurality of elongated marker tabs temporarily secured to said sheets,each such marker tab comprising an elongated strip having pressuresensitive adhesive over a portion of the lower surface of said strip,said strip being free of adhesive at the opposite end portion thereof toprovide an end portion free of adhesive, said marker tabs being disposedon said sheets with their pressure sensitive coating in engagement withthe front surfaces of said sheets and with their nonadhesive endportions projecting beyond the upper edges of said sheets so that anyone of said nonadhesive end portions can be readily grasped to removethe associated tab from said sheet and said folder.

2. The assembly of claim 1 in which the sheet closest to the back of thecover is the longest and the sheet in front thereofis shorter.

3. The assembly of claim 2 in which the sheet in front of the sheetclosest to the back of the cover is shorter than the sheet in back by anamount substantially equivalent to the length of the nonadhesive endportion of the tab.

4. An assembly of marker tabs comprising a folder simulating aconventional match book cover, said folder having a strip of cardboardfolded to provide a back portion, a short front flap portion, and afront closure flap member, a sheet of flexible material of a widthapproximating the width of the folder and with the lower end thereofdisposed between the back portion and the short front flap portion ofsaid folder, means for securing said back portion, said short front flapportion, and the lower end of said sheet together, and a plurality ofelongated marker tabs temporarily secured to said sheet, each suchmarker tab comprising an elongated strip having an upper end portion andpressure sensitive adhesive over the lower portion of the lower surfaceof said strip engaging said sheet, said marker tabs being disposed onsaid sheet side by side with their pressure sensitive coating inengagement with the front surface of said sheet and with their upper endportions adjacent an upper edge of said sheet so that any one of saidend portions can be readily grasped to remove the associated tab fromsaid sheet and said folder, the pressure sensitive adhesive material ofthe coating being sufficiently soft to permit said tab to be readilyremoved from a sheet of fibrous material after application thereto as amarker.

5. An assembly of marker tabs comprising a folder simulating aconventional match book cover, said folder having a strip of cardboardfolded to provide a back portion, a short front flap portion, and afront closure flap member, a sheet of flexible material of a widthapproximating the width of the folder and with the lower end thereofdisposed between the back portion and the short front flap portion ofsaid folder, means for securing said back portion, said short front flapportion, and the lower end of said sheet together, and a plurality ofmarker tabs temporarily secured to said sheet, each such marker tabhaving pressure sensitive adhesive over a substantial part of the lowersurface of said tab engaging said sheet, said marker tabs being disposedon said sheet adjacent to each other with their pressure sensitivecoating in engagement with the front surface of said sheet so that anyone of said end portions can be readily grasped to remove the associatedtab from said sheet and said folder.

1. An assembly of marker tabs comprising a folder simulating aconventional match book cover, said folder having a strip of cardboardfolded to provide a back portion, a short front flap portion, and afront closure flap member, a plurality of sheets of flexible material ofa width approximating the width of the folder and with the lower endsthereof disposed between the back portion and the short front flapportion of said folder, means for securing said back portion, said shortfront flap portion, and the lower ends of said sheets together, and aplurality of elongated marker tabs temporarily secured to said sheets,each such marker tab comprising an elongated strip having pressuresensitive adhesive over a portion of the lower surface of said strip,said strip being free of adhesive at the opposite end portion thereof toprovide an end portion free of adhesive, said marker tabs being disposedon said sheets with their pressure sensitive coating in engagement withthe front surfaces of said sheets and with their nonadhesive endportions projecting beyond the upper edges of said sheets so that anyone of said nonadhesive end portions can be readily grasped to removethe associated tab from said sheet and said folder.
 2. The assembly ofclaim 1 in which the sheet closest to the back of the cover is thelongest and the sheet in front thereof is shorter.
 3. The assembly ofclaim 2 in which the sheet in front of the sheet closest to the back ofthe cover is shorter than the sheet in back by an amount substantiallyequivalent to the length of the nonadhesive end portion of the tab. 4.An assembly of marker tabs comprising a folder simulating a conventionalmatch book cover, said folder having a strip of cardboard folded toprovide a back portion, a short front flap portion, and a front closureflap member, a sheet of flexible material of a width approximating thewidth of the folder and with the lower end thereof disposed between theback portion and the short front flap portion of said folder, means forsecuring said back portion, said short front flap portion, and the lowerEnd of said sheet together, and a plurality of elongated marker tabstemporarily secured to said sheet, each such marker tab comprising anelongated strip having an upper end portion and pressure sensitiveadhesive over the lower portion of the lower surface of said stripengaging said sheet, said marker tabs being disposed on said sheet sideby side with their pressure sensitive coating in engagement with thefront surface of said sheet and with their upper end portions adjacentan upper edge of said sheet so that any one of said end portions can bereadily grasped to remove the associated tab from said sheet and saidfolder, the pressure sensitive adhesive material of the coating beingsufficiently soft to permit said tab to be readily removed from a sheetof fibrous material after application thereto as a marker.
 5. Anassembly of marker tabs comprising a folder simulating a conventionalmatch book cover, said folder having a strip of cardboard folded toprovide a back portion, a short front flap portion, and a front closureflap member, a sheet of flexible material of a width approximating thewidth of the folder and with the lower end thereof disposed between theback portion and the short front flap portion of said folder, means forsecuring said back portion, said short front flap portion, and the lowerend of said sheet together, and a plurality of marker tabs temporarilysecured to said sheet, each such marker tab having pressure sensitiveadhesive over a substantial part of the lower surface of said tabengaging said sheet, said marker tabs being disposed on said sheetadjacent to each other with their pressure sensitive coating inengagement with the front surface of said sheet so that any one of saidend portions can be readily grasped to remove the associated tab fromsaid sheet and said folder.